English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at Dornoch Academy

The English for Speakers of Other Languages department at Dornoch Academy sits within the English Department. We share that department’s aim of wanting every pupil to feel inspired, supported, and challenged to achieve their best. 

As with English the subject, ESOL helps young people develop essential skills for learning, life, and future work. We place a strong focus on critical thinking, such as problem solving, analysis, and evaluation, while also encouraging creativity and collaboration through group work, discussions, and reflective learning strategies. 

The primary difference is the context in which ESOL is studied. Learners develop their reading and listening skills in contexts relating to everyday life, work and study. At Dornoch Academy, we study the units ESOL for everyday life and ESOL in study-related contexts.

Pupils will build on and develop their skills in four key areas: Reading, Writing, Talking, and Listening.

Reading

Pupils work with non-fiction texts to strengthen Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation (RUAE) skills, including learning how to identify persuasion and bias and how to 

Writing

Writing in a practical format is at the heart of ESOL. Pupils will learn to write for different purposes – to inform, to persuade, and in different formats, such as letters, reports and emails. 

Talking and Listening

Being able to communicate clearly and confidently is a vital life skill. In ESOL, pupils will practise this in many ways, both formal and informal. Group projects, discussions, presentations, and co-operative tasks help pupils to build teamwork, leadership, and listening skills while giving them the confidence to share their own ideas.

Staff

Mr Newman

Courses taught (BGE and Senior phase)

ESOL is available to learners for whom English is not their first language in S5 or 6 at Dornoch Academy. Usually the course is delivered at National 4, 5 or Higher.

Homework requirements

As and when appropriate to revision and units.

Assessment details

Higher ESOL 

The course assessment has four components: three question papers (exams) and a performance-spoken language. 

Question paper 1: Listening (makes up 20% of the total assessment mark). Learners listen to one monologue and two discussions, each on a different topic, and respond to questions. 

Question paper 2: Reading (25% of the total assessment mark). Learners read three texts in English, each on a different topic, and respond to questions. 

Question paper 3: Writing (25% of the total assessment mark). Learners produce two written texts, one from the context of everyday life (220-250 words approx.) and the other from the contexts of either work or study (250-300 words approx.). 

Performance: speaking and listening (30% of the total assessment mark).  

The question papers and portfolio will be marked by SQA and graded A to D. 

The performance-spoken language is marked internally and verified by SQA.
 

Family learning/useful resources

A useful link is provided by Education Scotland which summarizes the main aspects of the course here: https://www.npfs.org.uk/downloads/higher-english-for-speakers-of-other-languages

Resources to help learners improve their English in practical scenarios from the British Council can be found here: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/